Sally Brammall
Crime fiction author Peter May on how his new book, Entry Island, led to some shocking --and peculiar-- research
It was while researching new book Entry Island that Scottish crime fiction author Peter May, famed for his atmospheric detective series The Lewis Trilogy, made some interesting discoveries about his own lineage.
“On my father’s mother’s side, apparently my great aunt Belle was a McGregor and a direct descendant of Rob Roy McGregor. Who knows?” says May with a smile and a mock shrug of the shoulders.
May shares a flimsy genealogical understanding with his latest novel’s Quebecois protagonist, a recently divorced and bitter police detective Sime (pronounced ‘seem’) Mackenzie, whose Hebridean ancestry stretches back to the time of the Scottish clearances.
As Sime investigates the murder of wealthy businessman James Cowell on a remote Anglophone island close to Quebec, it is the memoirs of his own ancestor that help him to solve the crime and also understand the strange connection he feels with Cowell’s wife and chief suspect, Kirsty.
“I was thinking particularly about people of a contemporary generation who have no real concept of how they came to be and who they are,” explains May. “Blood is really strong. I think thepeople who are most likely to be aggressive are the least certain of their identity.
"So for Sime, the telling of his ancestor’s story is like a voyage of discovery, changing him and his life.”
May travelled to the Hebrides to visit the former black houses of the clan townships and learn firsthand the story of the Clearances; of an era when the UK government attempted to quell any murmurs of a repeat Jacobite uprising by violently dismantling the clan system and demanding rent arrears from the remaining Highlanders.
Outlining the plight of this Gaelic speaking population, a rebellious note comes into May’s own voice.
“I read some of the accounts of what these people went through and what they did to survive,” says May. “It’s absolutely shocking. The land was full, there were salmon and trout in the rivers and deer on the hill but they couldn’t eat because of the landlord. It was a crime. I know what the crime was!”
History relates a sour irony in that people forcibly cleared were given generous ‘packets’ of land upon safe arrival on Canadian shores. A passage in Entry Island outlines the method of land allocation, measuring the perimeter by walking the length of time it took for British American Land Company officials to recite a hymn – a practice so peculiar it could only be a quirk of historical fact.
“It was absolutely based on history,” says May. “They used to sing the 23rd psalm. You couldn’t leave that out!”
May visited the Scots communities within the Quebec eastern townships at the invitation of a Presbyterian female minister with Lewis antecedents, who got in touch with May after having read and enjoyed the Lewis series.
“It was through correspondence with her that I decided on Quebec as the place to set the book,” says May. “She and her family gave us a tour of Cantons de l’Est, and I also had the privilege of meeting this 93-year-old lady whose family had come from Tolsta on the Isle of Lewis. She still spoke Gaelic. That was extraordinary to me.”
Since May long ago ditched Anglophone Argyle to write in the sunnier climes of southern France and Spain, how does he feel about not being able to vote in the upcoming Scottish referendum on independence?
“I feel frustrated,” says May. “If I had the vote I would vote yes for independence, simply because the political system in Britain does not provide for an accurate representation of the views of the majority of the people in Scotland.”
Perhaps May would alter his vote if Take the High Road, the long-running, rather twee soap opera that launched his career on TV, was re-commissioned in an independent Scotland? A roar of laughter. “No! I would hate to see it brought back.”
Entry Island is out now (Quercus, £16.99). Peter May tours the UK from January 11
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